Landlord calls time on swearing
A LANDLORD stunned drinkers with a Basil Fawlty-style meltdown after they ignored his demands to stop swearing.
Customers at the Arlington Hotel in Loftus, North Yorks, were shocked when the rumpus exploded.
The publican jumped from behind the bar and shouted: “Everybody out.”
As the crowd stood dumbfounded in the street, the landlord locked all the doors and refused to open for three days.
In April, Samuel Smith’s brewery announced it would refuse to serve swearing customers in its pubs around the country.
Yesterday the bar was again locked up. Staff refused to comment and said the landlord did not wish to be named.
Yesterday the licensee – who took over the pub on June 1 – declined to answer questions.
He hung up the phone when quizzed about last Wednesday’s incident, while a woman – believed to be the landlady – refused to open the door.
The encounter left one customer, who also preferred to remain anonymous, shocked and bewildered.
The man, in his 40s, said: “I had just called in for a couple of pints and I was talking to somebody at the bar.
“Next thing, the door burst open and this man started shouting about the Sam Smith’s policy on swearing.
“He said he had been outside and heard somebody swear. Then he turned to the girl behind the bar and said, ‘Shut this bar and get everybody out’.
“At this point I said, ‘Excuse me, you can’t talk to people like this’, but each time I went to speak he just talked over me. He just put his hand up and said, ‘Shut up and get out’. ”
In April this year, all pubs run by Samuel Smith’s Brewery – based in Tadcaster, North Yorks, – were told to implement a zerotolerance policy on swearing
A memo from owner Humphrey Smith added: “As manager(s) of our pubs, you are responsible for ensuring that they are run in a proper and orderly manner.”
The policy orders landlords to refuse to serve customers who continue to use bad language in any of its pubs.